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New Zealand sights / itinerary advice
Hi ladies!
I know many of you have been to New Zealand, and so now I'm looking to tap your collective experience / intelligence to help me figure out a good itinerary for New Zealand in October, 2012. DH and I will have about 13-14 days there, and we're going to try to do sights on both islands. On our list of things we really want to see are:
1. Milford Sound
2. Glow Worms (go black water rafting in Waitomo)
3. Rotorua
4. Abel Tasman National Park
5. Maybe Dunedin and the boulder beach / peninsula with the birds?
I'm sure we're missing some major sights, so please tell me if there's anything you'd add. We've already done glacier trekking in both Argentina and Iceland, so we weren't planning to do the glaciers in New Zealand unless there's a reason we really, really need to (figured we were better allocating our time elsewhere). We are open to driving from place to place, or flying. We will not be renting a campervan, but will probably rent a car.
We would love advice on sights, routes you took, things we may have overlooked, etc. We're not really price sensitive, as we figure it is easier to spend a little more now than it is to pay to come back, so feel free to offer up any suggestions. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Re: New Zealand sights / itinerary advice
We just returned in early March and did the first 3 things on your list. Our favorite activity on the trip was the blackwater rafting at Waitomo Caves. We used The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co and did the longer tour (Black Abyss). I would highly recommend it. It was really well planned and so much fun, just such a unique experience.
We went to the Milford Sound as a day trip from Queenstown on the BBQ Bus. Unfortunately, we had a very cold, gray day for our trip so that wasn't ideal. But the BBQ Bus was a very nice excursion with a small group (rather than the larger buses) and they provided a good lunch along the way. We ended up having a great time, despite the weather.
We really enjoyed Rotorua, though we had a lot of rain during our stay there. The gondola and luge was a blast! The luge runs there are longer and better than the ones in Queenstown. We did both because we had so much fun riding the luge in Rotorua. I also liked the river jet excursion we did, which was located between Rotorua and Taupo. It included a jet boat ride and a visit to some waterfalls in the warm water.
I would also recommend the Coromandel Peninsula (North Island) if you enjoy beautiful beaches. We stayed for 2 nights at this wonderful B&B outside Whitianga called the Wairua Lodge. We spent the one full day there visiting Cathedral Cove, a gorgeous beach that requires a nice hike to get there and the Hot Water Beach, where you can dig your own hot tub due to the hot springs beneath the beach. The driving in this regiion is a little more difficult due to winding roads, gravel roads, and lower speed limits, but I thought it was worth the effort to get there. We definitely could've stayed longer.
If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help. We stayed 13 nights (6 nights on the north island, 7 nights in the south island) and we saw a lot. It was amazing and probably our favorite vacation! Have fun planning!
Kaikoura was my favorite place on the South Island, if you can find the time to go there; the doplin swim was incredible and the town was a lot of fun. If that's too much driving (I think it's about 5 hours from Abel Tasman), you could break it up with a night in Picton - the Marlborough Sound was beautiful, although not as striking as Milford or Doubtful, and there are some great wineries in and around Picton and Blenheim.
Personally, I preferred Doubtful Sound over Milford - it's much larger and more interesting. We did a day trip to Milford, but an overnight cruise to Doubtful. It was fantastic, and worth every penny.
I haven't done a glacier hike outside of Franz Josef, but I imagine they all sort of look alike to a certain extent, so there are probably plenty of other places where you could spend your time.
Here's my overall review and itinerary. You're welcome to email me if you have any questions - jenn248 at gmail. https://sites.google.com/site/newzealandtripreview/
Baby248 - ETA 1/10/13
We were just on the south island in February, stayed at Queenstown, Te Anau, and Dunedin. We also had mostly cloudy weather, but had fun. We did the road to Milford Sound, which is fun to drive, and we did a smaller cruise (60 max). We saw the glowworms in Te Anau.
Our favorite excursion by far was the Elm Wildlife Tour in Dunedin. It's 99 NZD per person and about 6 hours. They drive you to the Albatross Colony (optional entrance fee), then onto private farmland with fur seals, penguins, and sea lions. In seeing the sea lions, you go down on the beach with them just 10 feet away! They even provide binoculars. On the ride back, you get some lovely night views of Dunedin. The trip is limited to 12 people, so a nice small group.
The only note I have, that my BIL warned me about, is that it can take longer to drive places than what google says, so keep your driving schedule flexible. The roads are one lane in each direction, so if you get stuck behind a slow person or truck, it can take a long time until you can safely pass.
Enjoy!
I also recommend the dolphin swim in Kaikoura - it is amazing.
We did both Milford and Doubtful Sound. LOVED Doubtful sound. We just did a day trip but it was awesome!!
I agree with everyone re: dobutful sound and kaikora.
The issue is you can't do everything in 2 weeks. I would try and prioritise based on activites you are most keen on, and what you won't see elsewhere (I love White island, becuase they'res not any active volcanos in Oz, but for you there might be other opportunities).
If your going to Rotorua I would recommend considering Taupo. You can do this as a day trip so it would be something you could decide once your get there.
If you have spare time in Auckland, Waiheke Island is also stunning.
You can check out my NZ blog posts here (DH is a Kiwi and I spent the past 2.5 years in and out of Auckland)